Report: Madison Square Garden Using Facial-Recognition Technology on Fans

The Knicks home arena, Madison Square Garden, has reportedly been using face-scanning technology on fans

Madison Square Garden, the home arena of the New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, has been using facial-recognition technology for those who come through the building doors in order to identify people who enter, reports the New York Times.

Facial recognition technology takes images of people with the sole purpose of identification to determine if the person is a security threat. The software is mostly used by law enforcement in different capacities.

A spokesperson for the arena and the National Hockey League declined comment to the Times.

Facial recognition when anyone enters the locker room!

Live Stream: https://t.co/tRkqEEZPlv pic.twitter.com/UqtSAfqMcn

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) September 30, 2017

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and security of the fans, players, team and arena staff at our games,” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass. “The league and our teams are exploring the use of all state-of-the-art technology, including facial recognition, to ensure that we have industry-best security measures to protect all those in our arenas.”

According to the report, the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings have also experimented with the technology.

In terms of who can use of the technology, there is currently no federal statute governing how or when it is used.